2012-09-08

Boring Rock

1905 saw the final stages in the construction of the first of the Simplon Tunnels, to be opened in 1906, drilling courtesy of Brandau and Brandt. The rock drill shown above is the kind of machinery being used all over the world at that time. There was a certain amount of Drill Fever going on.

Ten years later, smaller rock drills would figure in Jacob Epstein's sculpture. Go see the pictures and try not to let it remind you of Giger's Aliens. Did Epstein get there first?